The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf

Clean and wash a small turbot, place it on a dish, pour over a small quantity of hot butter, sprinkle with a little finely-chopped parsley, powdered mace, salt and pepper, and allow it to remain for an hour. Lift the fish up carefully and place it in a baking dish. Brush it over with egg, then cover with sifted breadcrumbs, set it in the oven and bake. When done remove, put it on a dish and serve with any desired fish sauce. Boiled Turbot with Lobster Sauce. Place a turbot in a fish kettle with a bunch of parsley, a lump of salt, plenty of cold water and the juice of two large lemons. When the water begins to boil move the kettle to the side of the fire and let it simmer until the fish is tender. Have prepared the following sauce: Pick the meat from a hen lobster and cut it into moderate-sized pieces; place the shell and spawn in a mortar with a lump of butter and pound it until smooth, then pass it through a fine hair sieve. Make three-fourths of a pint of butter sauce, put the pieces of lobster in it, and season it with a very small quantity of cayenne pepper. When the sauce boils stir in the pounded mixture and one teacupful of cream, and move the pan to the edge of the fire. When the turbot is cooked drain it well, lay it on a hot dish over which has been spread a folded napkin, place a border of fresh green parsley round the dish and then a circle of quarters of lemon. Serve the fish while hot with the sauce in a sauceboat. The fish does not require much boiling. Broiled Trout. Clean and wipe the fish quite dry, split it down the back and let it soak for nearly an hour in warm butter with chopped sweet herbs, salt, pepper and parsley; then cover it with sifted breadcrumbs and broil it over a clear fire. Serve with lemon juice or orange juice squeezed over. Fillets of Turbot with Cream Sauce. Separate the fillets from the bones of some cooked turbot, skin them, leave till cold, then cut them into collops. Put one tablespoonful of flour into a stewpan with four ounces of butter and one-half teacupful of cream, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a small quantity of glaze ; season to taste with salt, stir the sauce over the fire until it is thick, then remove it to the side and put in the fillets of turbot. Turn the turbot and sauce on to a hot dish and serve. If preferred, the mixture can be served in a vol-au-vent. Turbot with Black Butter. Remove the skin and bones from some cold cooked turbot and cut the fish into nice sized pieces. Put a large piece of butter into a stewpan and boil it until it comes to be of a dark color; then put in a moderate quantity of finely-chopped parsley and one wineglassful of tarragon vinegar. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Put the fish into the sauce and keep it at the side of the fire until heated through and through. Turn the fish with the butter on to a hot dish and serve. Vol-au-Vent of Fish, Normandy. Prepare a puff paste with one pound each of flour and butter and one ounce of salt. Roll the paste out to a thickness of about three-fourths of an inch, and cut it round to the size of the dish on which it is to be served. Place the flat of paste on a baking sheet, brush it over with beaten egg, and cut a circle through the middle about one- fourth of an inch deep, leaving an edge about one inch wide all round. Bake the paste in a moderate oven, and when cooked lift up the center piece which will have risen ; scoop out the uncooked paste, brush the inside with beaten egg and place it in an oven for five minutes longer. Prepare a filling of scalloped fillets of soles, mussels, oysters and sliced mushrooms. Mix the cooking liquor of the mussels with some lean veloute sauce, boil it until somewhat reduced, then thicken it with the beaten yolks of two eggs. Mix the sauce with the garnishing, place the cover of paste on, stand it on the dish it was made to fit, and serve. Deviled Whitebait.